The Wolf Project
by Azharia
Summary: Climate change and natural disasters due to Global Warming have made life on the outside unlivable for humans. But Kerri finds out that there are other creatures who can survive. Companion short story to my work-in-progress Extinction. Mostly original. AU


THE WOLF PROJECT

She smelled the body before she saw it.

It was Kerri's first week on the job as a personal assistant in the government science laboratory in New Chicago and she still didn't know where to find the cafeteria. She had compensated by packing a lunch for the first few days – brown bagging it like she was still in high school. But today her alarm had decided not to go off and she hadn't had time to make one. So, she was stuck ambling around the lab facility looking for the lunch room. She realized she must have wandered down the wrong hallway when the stink of a decaying body reached her nostrils.

She didn't realize what it was at first. It smelled faintly like someone had passed extremely foul-smelling gas until she realized that the sound of wheels rolling along tile floors accompanied the increase in intensity of the smell. Panicking about getting caught in a place she wasn't supposed to be, she quickly ducked into a nearby doorway just as a stretcher pushed by two male lab technicians in full uniform (lab coat, plastic gloves, face mask, hair covering) wheeled around the corner.

"Of course we get stuck with the nasty jobs. Do you know this girl's been dead for two days? I heard Doctors Rogan and Viard talking about the tests they were performing: post mortem!"

Kerri shrank back into the shadow of the doorway as the lab techs passed her hiding spot. She could see the white sheet covering what she knew now was a body on the stretcher.

"I know. It's disgusting! I don't even want to touch one of these while they're alive let alone after they're dead. I've been thinking about asking for a reassignment…"

The voices trailed off as they turned a corner into the next hallway.

Trembling, Kerri stepped out of the doorway and fled to the closest exit. She found one after a few random turns down some unfamiliar hallways. Bursting through the door, she doubled over and retched on the pavement. Panting, she wiped her mouth on a clean tissue she found in the pocket of her blazer, brushed back her long, dark hair, and stood up, looking around in an attempt to orient herself.

She stood in an alley somewhere behind the laboratory. In front of her was a large building that was rented by the lab as a storage facility. The bricks of the building were dirty and crumbling, and the pavement of the alleyway had potholes spaced along it, giving the whole area a seedy sort of feeling. Peering around nervously, Kerri began to walk in the direction of the front of the building. When she finally reached it, she bypassed the front door and kept walking down the street.

The area used to be a residential one in the suburbs of Chicago before it became New Chicago and before the government had erected the superdome. She remembered walking these streets as a kid with her parents, kissing her daddy goodbye at the entrance to the lab, and walking back home with her mother. Even then she had wanted to be a scientist, just like her daddy. Back then, the streets had been lined with trees and bushes in front of nice houses. Cars were parked in shared driveways, neighbors came out to talk to each other, little children tumbled around the front yards as they played, older children rode around on bicycles. Now, she couldn't believe how much the city had changed in the short span of her life so far. The roads were surrounded by high-rise apartments and office buildings just like the rest of New Chicago under the superdome. The population was growing and the city was running out of room for the newcomers. Due to lack of true sunlight and natural conditions, the last tree died out three years ago. Even the grass hadn't survived. The city seemed harsh and unfeeling without them.

Kerri jumped as her phone rang in her ear (she remembered when devices like her phone used to be Bluetooth before the phone companies managed to fit the entire phone into them). She reached up and clicked the small answer button.

"Kerri Reid speaking. How may I help you?"

"Hi."

Kerri smiled, blushing slightly at the sound of the voice of Marcus, her boss. Altogether quite attractive with his blonde hair and pale blue eyes, he had befriended her in college. He was a senior, she a freshman, at the highly selective Chicago Science Academy. They had dated until he graduated at the end of the year, and after that they had communicated via email. It was another seven years until she saw him in person again. This time, she was his personal assistant.

"Where are you?" he continued. "I'm in your office right now and you're not here. Don't you usually eat lunch here?"

"I do, but I didn't have time to pack one this morning. I was looking for the cafeteria when I got lost. I ended up outside, so I'm taking a walk."

"Oh. Why didn't you just ask me where the lunch room is? I could have pointed you in the right direction. Come back and I'll take you there now. I wanted to talk to you about a report I need you to help me with anyway. We can sit together," he said.

"Alright," she said, starting back towards the lab. "I'll be back in a minute."

"Ok. See you in a few."

Her hair, clothes, and fingernails smelled for two days after the incident – as she referred to it in her head – even though she showered twice both days and ran the clothes through the washer three times. And not only did the smell linger, but also the memory of the conversation she had overheard. She had no idea what those lab techs were talking about, and she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to know. But she had always hated mysteries, so the image of that dead body under the sheet on the stretcher occupied her thoughts for the majority of the month and a half before Marcus came to her.

She was sitting at her desk in her office writing up a report for Marcus when he walked in looking shaken. She glanced up from her computer screen to see him shut the door behind him. He looked around the room warily, taking in her stark white walls, the two opaque plastic filing cabinets against the left wall, the windowed back wall, and her own person sitting at the desk with its side against the right wall so that she was in front of the windows, facing the door.

"What's the matter?" she asked, showing him that he had her full attention by rolling herself in her chair out from behind her computer screen.

"Can I talk to you?" he asked nervously. He pushed his wavy hair out of his eyes, and she noticed the sweat on his forehead.

"Yes, of course. Are you alright?" she asked, concerned.

"I'm fine. I would like to talk to you later this evening. You get off from work around… six o'clock, don't you? Could you meet me at Picasso's for dinner? Maybe around eight or so?"

Confused, but willing to play along just to see where this was all leading, she replied, "Sure. I'll be there at eight."

"I'm not inconveniencing you, am I? If you have other plans, that's perfectly all right. It's just… There's something important that's come up. I'm not sure how to…" He glanced nervously at one of the corners of the room. "You will meet me there?"

"Yes. I will be there," she said.

"Alright. I will… see you then, shall I?" And he spun around, opened the door, and strode from the room.

She sat there for a moment, stunned at his sudden exit as well as from the conversation. Then she frowned. Something was definitely wrong. She didn't understand, but she supposed she would that evening. Sighing, she rolled back in front of her computer screen and returned to her work, trying to ignore the ominous feeling in the pit of her stomach that had her picturing again the body under the sheet.

That evening, she arrived five minutes early to find him already seated at a booth towards the back of the restaurant. The lighting was dim, but he looked calmer than he had that morning, she noticed with relief. As she walked towards him, he looked up at her and smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes.

"Hi," she said tentatively, sliding into the seat across from him.

"Hello," he said in a low voice.

They chatted pleasantly for a while, discussing the paths their lives had taken since they had last seen each other in college. After they ordered and received their food, Kerri finally broached the subject that had gotten her here.

"Um… So… What is it that you want to talk about?" she began. She looked at Marcus expectantly. He gazed at her intently, appearing to be having some internal struggle. She wondered if he was having difficulty saying what he wanted to say, but before she could fully think it out, he spoke.

"The things I am about to tell you and ask you to do could potentially put your life at risk, but you're the only one I trust and I need your help."

She froze. This certainly wasn't what she had expected. Well, she didn't really know what she had expected, but it definitely wasn't this. "Could potentially put her life at risk?" What did that mean?

He was watching her expression warily, gauging her reaction, no doubt.

Eventually, he added, "You can still walk away. I'm not going to force this on you, and I won't be angry. In fact, I hate putting you in this position, but you're the only person I have."

She didn't know what to think. She sat back in her seat, trying to spur her brain into action when all it wanted to throw at her was the word "danger". What he was going to ask her to do was obviously something dangerous. He had basically said as much. But he had also said that he had no one else to turn to for help. What could she possible offer him in the way of aid? She was intelligent, sure, but she was no one of consequence; she had no real talent, which was why she ended up as an assistant instead of the research scientist that she always dreamed of becoming. Maybe it was the fact that she was of so little worth that he decided to ask her in the first place. Really, what did she have to lose? He had said that her life would be in danger. Well, what life did she actually have? She lived in a small, dull apartment in the middle of an overpopulated area of the city. She had few friends that she kept in touch with, and she had seen none of them since college. Her father had passed away two years ago and her mother was in a nursing home for people with Alzheimer's. No one would miss her. No one even noticed her, except for Marcus.

"Alright. Tell me what I need to know, and I'll help you," she said.

He looked apprehensive.

"Are you sure? I wasn't joking when I said your life could be at stake. And I don't mean only that you could be killed, which is terrible enough. If you get caught helping me, they will take you. I don't even know what they will do to you. I will do everything I can to keep you safe, I promise, but if something goes wrong…"

"I understand. Tell me what it is you want me to do."

He looked at her intensely for a long moment, almost as though he had been wishing she would refuse him, but eventually he sighed and began to speak.

"The project I am working on is called the 'Wolf Project'. You know this already. But what you don't know – and what I didn't know up until this morning – is that the experiments are being conducted on live subjects; and those subjects are people."

"What?" she interrupted, startled.

He nodded.

"They are people who have developed a special genetic ability to transform – or shape shift – into wolf-like creatures. They do not become true wolves – they only resemble them – for the real purpose of this ability is to allow them to live outside of our superdomes. This is the reason for the testing. The scientists working on the project are attempting to isolate the genetic mutation so that they may provide other humans with this ability. The superdomes are too crowded, and the population is growing every day while our resources are becoming scarcer. If the scientists can give other humans this ability, then they will be able to survive outside the superdomes as well."

"Then what's the problem?" she asked.

"The tests themselves are the problem. The government doesn't consider these beings 'human', so the scientists are given free rein to perform the tests however they please. What they are doing to them is torture! What I was unwittingly helping them do was torture!" He covered his face with his hands. "And all of the shape-shifters who have been captured and forced to submit to this testing have died."

She sat there, horrified, watching him with his face in his hands. The conversation that she had overheard that day in the hallway was beginning to take on a new meaning.

"What can I do to help? What can anyone do to help? The laboratory has the backing of the government!" she said.

He looked up at her, a fierce expression in his eyes.

"They have two in custody right now: a man and a woman. I don't know for how long they've been there. But I do know that I'm going to help them escape."

They returned to his house that evening to plan what needed to be done. He could get them out of the laboratory; he already had all of the access codes he needed. But once they were out, he would be on the run as well because he knew that he would be on the security cameras; the security system in the lab was just too good to slip by unnoticed. That was where she came into play. He gave her a copy of his keycard (he had only gotten it from the head of security at the lab under the pretense that he had lost his first one), which would give her access to the building that guarded the Exit from the superdome into the outside world. The building itself doubled as a scientific research facility; it was probably the first place the shape-shifters were held before they were shipped to the main lab. He described the two shape shifters to her: the man was tall and lean, with shaggy hair that was so light brown that it looked almost grey; the girl had a thin waist with larger hips and long, straight brown hair. Kerri would meet them at a designated place in the city and lead them out of the superdome. Marcus would lead the police on a wild goose chase around the city before eventually meeting them at the Exit, using his supposedly "lost" keycard to access the building. She would have to run from there before the police arrived, but as long as she could get out in time, she should be in no danger. The security cameras in the Exit building were few and far between, so she could avoid them as well as the security guards easily if she knew their placement and routes. It was a risky plan, with multiple ways for it to go wrong, but it was all they had. They had to move quickly; the man was dying.

The evening finally came when they were to attempt the rescue. Kerri sat in her car in the parking lot of the Protestant church closest to the laboratory when she saw the woman run frantically up the steps into the church, glancing behind her as though checking for pursuers. She was alone. Peering around nervously, Kerri slowly got out of the car. Looking back at the church, she ducked behind her car door before realizing that it was the man who was limping up the steps into the church. Sensing that something had gone wrong, Kerri followed them.

Once she entered the church, she heard the muffled sobbing of the woman, but she could see no one. Walking slowly in the dark, she called out to them. The crying stopped abruptly and an eerie silence fell upon the church.

"It's just me. Kerri," she called. "I'm here to help you escape."

A door opened behind the altar. She could see two darker shadows emerge from what looked like the organ room.

"What's wrong? Is Marcus okay?" she asked tensely. This was her first time meeting them. When they stepped into the semi-lightness of the artificial moonlight shining through the stained glass windows, she thought they seemed so human that she almost couldn't believe they were these wolf creatures.

"He helped us escape from the facility, but the police arrived too quickly," whispered the man. He was leaning heavily on the woman. "We had to split up inside the building. We don't know whether he has been captured or not. I'm sorry."

Fear stabbed at her, but she shoved it away viciously. She couldn't think about him now, no matter how much she wanted to, for if she did, she would be tempted to run back to the lab to search for him. But she couldn't do that. She needed to get this couple to safety. So she steeled herself.

"Alright. Follow me," she said.

They crept outside and climbed into her car, the couple in the backseat, she in the driver's. Slowly, she made her way through the dark streets of the outskirts of the city and parked in the parking lot across the road from the Exit, as planned. She sat in the car for a few moments, watching the building, until she saw the security guard make his round in front of the building. Once he was out of sight, she climbed out of the car and motioned the others to follow her. When they reached the door, she swiped Marcus's access card and the door quietly clicked open. With a sharp pang, she caught a glimpse of his picture on the card as she put it into her pocket.

They tiptoed down the hallways, keeping out of sight of the security cameras, following the route that Kerri had spent hours memorizing so that she would be absolutely sure of her course once it was time to follow it. They had a close call with a security guard in one of the hallways, but the woman smelled him in time for them to hide themselves inside a nearby bathroom.

It was odd, travelling with this couple. They seemed intensely aware of their surroundings, and they could pick up smells and sounds that normal humans could not. And their body language was so different from a normal human's as well; it was as though they were crawling while standing upright. However, the man seemed to be having a difficult time. He kept attempting to walk on his own. After a while, he would begin to labor, and the woman would pull his arm around her shoulders to help support some of his weight.

When they finally reached the door to the last hallway – which they would have to open with another swipe of Marcus's card – Kerri paused.

"Marcus said he would be here by now," she said, feeling the control over her panic beginning to slip.

The couple looked at each other.

"We can wait for a little bit, if you want," said the woman.

"Please?" she asked, with a touch of desperation.

"Let's find a place to sit down away from the security cameras. That one's about to turn back towards us," replied the woman.

Kerri nodded. They made their way back down the previous hallway and were about to enter one of the deserted lab rooms when all the day lights flashed on. They froze. In the distance, moving towards them, they heard the clomping of boots, the rustle of clothing, and the unmistakable clicks of guns being loaded.

"Shit!" exclaimed the woman, grabbing the man, spinning them around, and racing towards the Exit, Kerri bringing up the rear. All concern for the security cameras was forgotten as the couple let Kerri sprint past them so she could swipe the keycard and open the door. But the door wouldn't open. She swiped it again, praying that maybe she had just not swiped it properly the first time.

"The keycard won't open the door!" she cried. "They must have erased his information from the system!" She turned around to face them, at a complete loss as to what to do. Behind them, sprinting towards them, she saw, "Marcus!"

He skidded to a halt, colliding with the door in his haste.

"There should be an emergency access panel located behind the card reader. If I can just pry it off…" He fumbled with the edges of the card reader, trying to find purchase. Once he did, he yanked it off with a sharp snap. The entire thing popped off revealing a hole filled with wires and, at the back, a manual input button panel. He punched in the code and the door clicked open.

"Come on!" he cried, yanking open the door to let the couple through. He stopped her just as she was about to follow.

"Kerri, you need to get out of here before the police arrive. I don't want you seen anywhere near this place," he said in a rush.

"They'll have already seen me, or they will soon. I'm on the security camera footage. We just ran here when the lights came on."

"Dammit!" he cursed, running his fingers through his hair in distress.

"I can come with you. If you can live outside, then surely I – "

"No! You can't. You would die out there. I'm… different," he said with a pained expression.

She paused for a moment, letting that sink in.

"You're one of them," she said quietly.

He looked at her, that same pained expression still on his face.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"Don't be. I'll be okay," she said, not really meaning it.

He hesitated.

"Go," she said. "I'll be fine, alright? You're the best thing that's ever happened to me. I don't want you to get caught. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have found the courage to help these people like I did. And besides, I lo – "

He cut her off by slipping his arm around her waist, pulling her towards him, and kissing her fiercely. She only had time to let slip a shocked squeak from the back of her throat before he released her.

"Love you, too," he said before turning around and running for the Exit. The door closed behind him.

She stood there for a moment, tears that she hadn't realized she had let slip trickling down her cheeks. Then she quietly slipped back through the facility and made her way home.

Now, she was sitting alone in her brightly lit living room, waiting for that knock on the door that she knew would come. She didn't know who would come for her; she just knew that someone would. She could run away to some other part of the superdome; that thought had occurred to her as she was driving home. But she didn't really want to go anywhere else. Shaking, she got up to go stand at the window. The darkness outside was all-encompassing. She wondered where he was now. It had to be darker wherever he was, what with the absence of man-made light. Maybe she would get to see that darkness. Maybe they dumped people like her outside of the superdome where they couldn't tell anyone about what actually happened. Maybe he would be waiting for her. Maybe she could survive out there if she were with him. All of those options were unlikely. But, still. Maybe.


End file.
